This invention relates to a network based mail attachment storage system and method, and more specifically to such a system and method which detaches and stores any mail attachments and appends the body of the mail to include a handle to enable the recipient to retrieve the stored attachment at a later time.
The internet allows for a vast amount of information to be instantly disseminated to a worldwide audience. Additionally, the use of electronic mail (e-mail) has enabled users to communicate for free (or essentially free) with other users around the world. Electronic e-mail systems have allowed for time zones and country borders to virtually disappear, as people around the world are able to collaborate and exchange ideas as if they were all in the same town. However, all this free exchange of information does not come without cost.
Advertisers quickly learned that it is fiscally prudent to blindly solicit advertisements over the internet via e-mail, as opposed to the more traditional method of mass mailings. This unwanted and unsolicited e-mail (commonly known as SPAM mail) results in e-mail users receiving unwanted e-mail that is equivalent to unwanted telemarketer phone calls and traditional postal junk mail. Further, as primitive e-mail systems evolved into the complex systems of today, the ability to attach large data files to e-mail began to be commonplace.
While e-mail messages are quite small (approximately 1 kilobyte each), the size of the attachment attached to this modestly-sized e-mail can be megabytes. Therefore, it is possible for someone to attach a 10 megabyte file to a 1 kilobyte e-mail, creating a file which is quite large and cumbersome. Further, since the outstanding majority of users access their e-mail via dial-up accounts using analog modems, this creates a situation in which an e-mail with an attachment having a total size of 10 megabytes can take approximately 50 minutes to download on an analog 56K modem. This creates a frustrating situation for the home user who simply wants to check his or her e-mail after work, only to find out that a distant co-worker has e-mailed you an unwanted sound file via an e-mail attachment. This e-mail attachment, of which there may be more than one, makes the process of downloading your e-mail (which would typically take under a minute) to a process that can take an hour or more.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide such a network-based mail attachment storage system and method which allows a user to quickly and easily download e-mail.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a system which detaches email attachments from a user""s e-mail so that the body of the e-mail can be downloaded quickly.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a system which stores the detached e-mail attachment and appends the body of the e-mail to include a handle which allows the user to retrieve the e-mail attachment at a later time.
This invention results from the realization that a truly effective mail attachment storage system and method can be achieved by accepting an e-mail containing an attachment and a forwarding specification, detaching the attachment and storing it on a network server for later retrieval, appending the e-mail to include a handle and transmitting, in accordance with the forwarding specification, the appended e-mail, but not the stored attachment, so that the intended recipient, at his election, can retrieve the stored attachment at a later time, via the handle.
This invention features a network-based mail attachment storage system comprising: a receiving portal for receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a forwarding specification and an attachment; an attachment stripper for detaching the attachment from the electronic mail item; a storage device for storing the stripped attachment at a specific address under a specific file name; a handle generator for generating a handle corresponding to the specific address and the specific file name which allows access to the attachment stored at the specific address under the specific file name; a handle appender for appending the handle to the electronic mail item; and a transmitting portal for transmitting in accordance with the forwarding specification the appended electronic mail item including the handle but excluding the stored attachment.
In a preferred embodiment, the network-based mail attachment storage system may include a parser for extracting a recipient address from the forwarding specification. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include an attachment retriever for enabling the recipient to retrieve at a later date the stored attachment stored under the specific file name at the specific address via the handle. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include a policy interpreter for determining if the recipient is to be charged a fee for retrieving the stored attachments. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include a deletion timer for calculating a deletion time after which the stored attachment is deleted. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include an attachment deleter for deleting the stored attachment upon the expiration of the deletion time. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include a sender notifier for notifying the sender when the recipient retrieved the stored attachment. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include an attachment comparator for comparing the stored attachment to previously-stored attachments to determine if any attachments are identical. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include a redundancy deleter which deletes a stored attachment when it is identical to a previously-stored attachment. The network-based mail attachment storage system may include a handle redirector for redirecting the handle pointing to the deleted attachment so that it points to the identical previously-stored attachment. The handle may be a uniform resource locator. The storage device may be chosen from the group consisting of hard drives, optical drives, random access memories, tape drives and RAID arrays.
This invention also features a network-based mail attachment storage method comprising the steps of: receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a forwarding specification and an attachment; detaching the attachment from the electronic mail item; storing the attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name; generating a handle corresponding to the specific address and the specific file name; appending the electronic mail item to include the handle; and transmitting in accordance with the forwarding specification the appended electronic mail item including the handle but excluding the stored attachment.
In a preferred embodiment, the network-based mail attachment storage method may include the step of calculating a deletion time upon which the stored attachment is to be deleted. The network-based mail attachment storage method may include the step of deleting the stored attachment upon the expiration of the deletion time. The step of receiving may further include a recipient address in the forwarding specification and the network-based mail attachment storage method may include the step of notifying the sender when the recipient retrieved the stored attachment.
This invention also features a computer-readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of: receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a forwarding specification and an attachment; detaching the attachment from the electronic mail item; storing the attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name; generating a handle corresponding to the specific address and the specific file name; appending the electronic mail item to include the handle; and transmitting in accordance with the forwarding specification the appended electronic mail item including the handle but excluding the stored attachment.
In a preferred embodiment, the computer readable medium may be a hard drive. The computer readable medium may be a read-only memory. The computer readable medium may be a random-access memory.
This invention also features a processor and memory configured to perform the steps of: receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a forwarding specification and an attachment; detaching the attachment from the electronic mail item; storing the attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name; generating a handle corresponding to the specific address and the specific file name; appending the electronic mail item to include the handle; and transmitting in accordance with the forwarding specification the appended electronic mail item, including the handle but excluding the stored attachment.
In a preferred embodiment the processor and memory are incorporated into a personal computer. The processor and memory may be incorporated into a programmable logic controller. The processor and memory may be incorporated into a single-board computer. The processor and memory may be incorporated into an array of network servers.